Last month, I was driving through a major highway construction project when my passenger commented how excited she was because she’d heard that the project was nearing completion and would be finished before year-end. I took a quick gander at the site and responded that I was sure whatever source she’d heard that from must […]
When I ask project managers what a baseline is and why it’s important, they tell me that it is an approved starting point against which project performance is measured. They are right, of course. But when I ask them if they use baselines, as often as not, I find that baselining is a fundamental project
No project should be initiated without a charter or some kind of project initiating document. While they may include various topics and information, the key purpose of a charter is two-fold: 1) It sanctions the project (or phase), and 2) It gives authority to the project manager to apply organizational resources to the project. I
When I ask students for their biggest challenges in managing projects, they usually tell me it’s the lack of people, time, or money. They just don’t have enough resources to get done what’s expected of them. I don’t doubt it. The relentless battle cry to reduce waste and increase productivity has many project managers feeling
At the conclusion of a recent project management class, a student sighed heavily and noted that, “If I did all of this stuff, my stakeholders would shoot me.” I hear this sentiment often from students who are new to project management or working in organizations that are new to project management. The good news is
I ran my first triathlon this past summer. My biggest concern going into the race was how I was going to hold up toward the end. Running is the last of the three events, and the one about which I was least confident. I wondered if I would be able to finish that last mile
Recently, a project management colleague was expressing frustration with her inability to get a project moving in a constructive direction. She commented that she knew the success of the project was her responsibility, but she felt hamstrung in her ability to get what she needed from people. Even simple requests for information from external stakeholders
On every project there are things we know and things we don’t know – Knowns and Unknowns. Organizing your thoughts around those concepts can be a constructive approach to understanding a project as shown in the matrix. The Known Knowns you handle via the plan, but what about those various flavors of Unknowns? How do
I heard this from a project team member in a training class recently. He was referring to the schedules for the projects he works on. What he was getting at was that the team really doesn’t have a chance from the get-go. They are behind on projects before they even begin, and it doesn’t take
I think people like a good fight. Certainly the media seems to, not only in the world of politics, but also in the worlds of sports and entertainment to name a few. In the world of business analysis, the current fight seems to pit Agile methods against the Waterfall approach. For the next several blogs we’ll
Receive our newsletter to stay
on top of the latest posts
PMI, PMBOK, PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, PMI-RMP, PMI-SP, PMI-PBA, The PMI TALENT TRIANGLE and the PMI Talent Triangle logo, and the PMI Authorized Training Partner logo are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. | PMI ATP Provider ID #3348 | ITIL® is a registered trademark of AXELOS Limited. The Swirl logo™ is a trademark of AXELOS Limited | IIBA®, BABOK® Guide and Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® are registered trademarks owned by International Institute of Business Analysis. CBAP®, CCBA®, IIBA®-AAC, IIBA®-CBDA, and ECBA™ are registered certification marks owned by International Institute of Business Analysis. | BRMP® is a registered trademark of Business Relationship Management Institute.
New Horizons
Project Management Academy
Six Sigma Online
Velopi
Watermark Learning
Login
New Horizons
Project Management Academy
Velopi
Six Sigma Online
Watermark Learning